News of: Sunday, 30th of August, 2009

Front Page

Thirty-one new cases of swine flu were detected yesterday with experts warning Bangladesh's alert level may soon be upgraded to "level 3" as the virus is quickly spreading from small clusters to the wider community.

As the prime minister sought explanation from Petrobangla chairman why he was so eager to award US company Chevron a $52.7 million contract to install a gas compressor station over the Gas Transmission Company Ltd (GTCL) system by cancelling an open tender, the chairman gave a smoky response last week.

Due to lack of manpower, other facilities and increasing number of patients, doctors at the outdoor departments of important city hospitals can only see a patient for as little as less than two minutes.

The United Nations has asked its staff not to fly Biman Bangladesh Airlines for lack of safety and security arrangements and flight delays, landing another blow to the reputation of the national flag carrier.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina sought strong international support and high technological and financial assistance for implementing comprehensive programmes being undertaken for adaptation to climate change and mitigation of its severe adversities in Bangladesh.

The government is going to introduce exclusive bus services for school children by late October as part of its effort to ease terrible traffic jams that waste valuable time and energy of people living in Dhaka.

The Mawa-Magurkhanda-Nauduba channel, an important river channel on Mawa-Kawrakandi route in the southwestern region, may close anytime as the waterway has lost its navigability due to continuous deposition of silt.

Editorial

WITH a hundred and sixty-three reported cases of Swine flu in the country since the affliction in Mexico made international news almost over quarter of a year ago, the rate of incidence in Bangladesh may not have been scary. Yet, what needs to be noted is that in the recent days there has been a sharp increase in the number of identified cases. An added concern could be the possible number of unreported cases that has evaded screening. According to experts therefore, all this is a cause for worry for a country that is densely populated and having plenty of open crowded places where people mingle or come in close contact with each other making them vulnerable to contagion.

GERMAN Chancellor Angela Merkel's call for Israel to freeze its settlements in Palestinian territory is a powerful indication of the pressure which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is under. It is just as well that Netanyahu be under such pressure because of the particular reason that he has so far given no indication of his willingness to go for accommodation with the Palestinians. And the pressure is not just Ms. Merkel's. The Obama administration too has been trying to convince Israel's leader that progress in the Middle East is eventually dependent on whether or not his government is ready and willing to put an end to its settlements in the region. Unfortunately, and in defiance of objective reality, Mr. Netanyahu has chosen to look away from the issue.

POVERTY alleviation being an area of major policy thrust of the successive governments this year's Asian Development Bank (ADB) poverty figures for Bangladesh have come as a shocker. The figures show that more than 50 percent of the population are now living below the extreme poverty level. To measure extreme poverty, the amount of income of a person that the poverty researchers in the UN have agreed upon is equivalent to $1.25 per day. So, if one is to go by the ADB-supplied figures, then the progress the country has made so far is very poor given the amount of emphasis laid on the issue by the different governments and the concern expressed by the donor communities.

CAN this possibly be true? On August 25, 1909, the New York Times reported: "As a result of the death of Miss Helenora Catherine Horn-Elphinstone-Darlrymple, sister of Sir Edward Graeme Elphinstone-Darlrymple, during a dry shampoo with carbon tetrachloride at Harrods Stores, charges of manslaughter were yesterday preferred at Westminster Police court against Mr. William H. Eardly, the manager of the department, and Miss Beatrice Clarke, one of the assistants. Miss Horn-Elphinstone-Darlrymple went to Harrods for a dry shampoo on July 12. She was warned she might feel faint "

Sports

FIDE Master Mehdi Hasan Parag earned his first IM norm when he beat Kazakhstan's GM Anuar Ismagambetov in the final round of the 9th United Insurance Grandmasters Chess tournament at the NSC Tower Auditorium Lounge yesterday.

Julian Hunte, the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) president, has said that the Indian cricket board shot down a proposal mooted by the ICC to organise Test cricket around the four-year Test Championship cycle.

Australian stars such as Michael Clarke and Mitchell Johnson have been warned that as and when they decide to join the Indian Premier League (IPL), they can expect far smaller wage packages than they would have received by joining for the inaugural tournament.

Arsene Wenger has accused UEFA of launching a witch hunt against Eduardo after European football's governing body began disciplinary proceedings against the Arsenal forward following his Champions League dive against Celtic.

The commerce minister yesterday said that the government will do everything to protect the interests of the people who have been facing harsh economical and social fallout from the increased salinity and diminished fertility of lands.

It was the first time we attended an international workshop held at our Bogra Learning and Devel-opment Centre on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), a phrase used interchangeably with Corporate Responsibility or Corporate Affairs. Until then, I viewed CSR as a do-good, generosity laden activity in support of hapless organisations struggling to make ends meet, as they provided wherewithal to the society's ignored and down-trodden.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk congratulated his country on Friday after the economy grew 0.5 percent in the second quarter, making it the only EU state to come through the crisis with flying colours.

Metropolitan

In Keraniganj near Dhaka, most of the canals which once had link with Buriganga and Dhaleshwari rivers were filled up either totally or partially due to continuous encroachment and dumping of solid wastes.

Institute of Governance Studies (IGS) of Brac University in its annual research report 2008 recommended downsizing the government and building strong media and civil society to ensure good political governance in the country.

Hundreds of villagers in bordering villages in Sunamganj has been suffering a lot as landslides in Meghalaya, India, sending sand and rocks across the border into these villages, causing permanent damage to croplands.

Leaders of Bangladesh Garments Workers Unity Council (BGWUC) yesterday announced a series of programmes to press home their five-point demand, including revision in their wage structures and payment of all arrears before Eid.

The Government has decided to set up three 50-bed hospitals for Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) in Chuadanga, Thakurgaon and Khagrachhari to provide healthcare services for 45,000 people including BDR personnel and their family members.

Officials of the Department of Narcotics Control (DNC) yesterday arrested three members of a family from a house at SK Das Road under Sutrapur Police Station and seized 1000 ampoules of injection from their possession.

Shipping ministry will send all documents of corruption and irregularities to Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) within a day or two to take action against former shipping adviser Maj Gen (retd) MA Matin.

After decades of quiet but desperate searches, journalist Nadeem Qadir discovered the grave of his illustrious father, Lt Col Muhammad Abdul Qadir, the senior most Bangalee military officer to embrace martyrdom at the very onset of the liberation war in 1971.

Coastal people in the disaster-prone southern part of the country underscored the need for launching programmes immediately to protect their livelihood, food and water security from adverse impacts of climate change which hit the region frequently.

Seventy-one organisations at a joint meeting yesterday called on the government to announce a road map to the trial of war criminals and start the activities of tribunal through forming investigation committee and appointing lawyers immediately.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina hosted iftar party for political leaders at Ganobhaban yesterday, but neither opposition leader Khaleda Zia nor any of her party representatives did turn up responding to the PM's invitation.

Members of the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) seized 1,200 pieces of yaba tablets and arrested three people, including a Dhaka City Corporation councillor, in this connection in the city yesterday evening.

National

A three-kilometre protection embankment along the Teesta River has been constructed in two days as people from six villages in Votmari union under Kaliganj upazila of Lalmonirhat rendered voluntary service for the task to save their life and property from river erosion.

Seven of the nine joint conveners of Moulvibazar district BNP yesterday sent a resolution to party Chairperson Khaleda Zia, Secretary General Khandakar Delwar Hossain and Joint Secretary General Nazrul Islam Khan to remove M Naser Rahman from the post of Moulvibazar district BNP convener.

An outlaw was bullet hit during a gunfight with police in Kotchandpur upazila on Friday night. Police arrested injured Ashman, 35, son of Mozibar Malita of Bherakhali village under Harinakundo upazila. Officer-in-Charge (OC) of Kotchandpur police station said, some outlaws were holding a secret meeting in a field of Kushna village on Friday night. When police cordoned the area, the outlaws opened fire prompting the law enforcers to retaliate. During the gunfight, Ashman was seriously injured while others fled away. Police recovered a shutter gun and two bullets.

A Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) activist of Rajshahi University unit, who was given death threat by Shibir cadres on Thursday night, received a fresh threat yesterday after he filed a general diary against five of them. BCL activist Golam Mostafa of Nawab Abdul Latif Hall told this correspondent that some unknown shibir cadres yesterday threatened him for filing the GD and asked him to leave the campus. Mostafa met the RU proctor and sought security of his life. He alleged that the university authorities and police are yet to take any step for arrest of the Shibir cadres.

Police arrested a suspected outlaw from the house of one Akbar Majhi in Comillatila area under Sadar upazila yesterday. Arrestee Rafiqul Islam Howladar, 25, is son of Hanif Howladar of Gasbari village under Sadar upazila in Madaripur district. A police team raided Akbar's house to nab listed criminal Mizanur Rahman yesterday noon. Sensing police presence Mizan ran away but police found Rafiq who was asleep there. He was arrested on suspicion of being an outlaw. Rafiq informed police that he had come to Khagrachhari a few days ago following a family feud.

A Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) leader was shot by criminals at Doharpara in the town on Friday night. Nayem Ahmed Russel, 23, son of Abdullah Sheikh is a student of Pabna Edward College and a leader of college BCL unit. Police and locals said the criminals opened fire on Russell at about 11 pm when he was returning home from mosque after prayers. Nayem was rushed to local hospital but the doctors shifted him to DMCH as his condition deteriorated.

A 'regional leader' of outlawed PBCP Red Flag faction was arrested on Friday night. Arrestee Rawshan alias Rwaz,45, is son of Samad Pramanik of village Baguan in Vangura upazila. Police said they arrested Rawshan from his residence Friday midnight. The arrestee is also one of the most wanted criminals in Pabna. He is accused in at least seven cases including murder and robbery, police said.

Letters

The carnage and massacre committed in the BDR Headquarters in Pilkhana on the 26th February definitely called for an immediate investigation into the matter and suggestion for future course of action regarding its restructuring. The JS Panel constituted for the purpose has already submitted a list of suggestions for its remodelling and restructuring. I appreciate the panel for doing the hard work for preparing the suggestions. But I cannot agree with the suggestion of curtailing the BDR manpower by 30 percent. Decreasing the manpower by 30% will mean a reduction of more than 12,000 personnel. If this suggestion is implemented several problems might arise. Firstly, a huge number of able-bodied persons with modern military training will remain unemployed.

We cannot take the words of the LGRD minister so lightly. He has explicitly expressed that the government is facing pressure both at home and abroad not to try the war criminals. He said this on 18 August while speaking at a function organized by Jongibad Birodhi Mancha (a platform against communalism and militancy).

Bangladesh is a developing country, and by definition, poor. The state and society both have to cope with severe socio-economic and political pressures, such as a chronic scarcity of resources, unpredictable political changes and needs associated, frequently, with post-colonial upheavals, as well as the intervention of outside forces which bring with them alien ideas and often alter the dynamics of the country. These circumstances, accompanied by wide disparities in income distribution and the needs of vast numbers of people who survive under conditions of extreme poverty, add a new dimension to the prevalence of corruption.

A UK news report ( 17 Aug) mentions that Sir David Attenborough has recently joined as patron the Optimum Population Trust (UK) , and along with many other environmentalists and scientists are calling for a campaign to limit the world's population. Prominent supporters of this call are Jonathan Porritt ( former UK government environmental adviser), long standing population control advocate Paul Ehrlich, and Professor Chris Rapley, a British scientist who has suggested that the world's population be cut by two thirds.

The acronym OSD stands for Officer on Special Duty. It means the OSD officers are supposed to engage in a special kind of duty which ordinary officers cannot do. Special duty may be an assignment of project appraisal, or project preparation, giving special training to a group of officers, some kind of research work, pursuing higher degree abroad, etc. But the practical meaning of OSD in our government (excepting sending abroad) is to keep someone out of his job. In other words, it is a kind of silent punishment. The mechanism does not bring any good results, rather it creates acute frustration among the sufferers, sap their morale, humiliate them to the family and society as a whole. The money and the facilities spent for them is mere wastage.

Some able-bodied people are found pretending to be lame, blind or dumb or some healthy beggars collect a false certificate or prescription and pretend to be patients. They beg in front of shopping malls, in universities and in vehicles. They emotionally blackmail the students and people for getting alms. Thousand of street children are also begging during daytime. Those children are sent to the streets by their parents after coaching to earn some extra pocket cash, though they are not actually poor.

I have just returned from a 10-day trip to Dhaka after four and a half years. There were many pleasant surprises in terms of positive developments; the energy I noticed in the streets and the infusion of a sense of purpose with which the 16 million city dwellers seemed to go about their day says volumes about the growing economy despite the political and administrative incompetence of the country's leaders and civil servants. The inside of Zia International Airport was most impressive. The $10bn remittance sent by expat workers is having an effect on the way of life in Bangladesh. The traffic alas is the bane of Dhaka!

I was moved very much with the volume of news reports and photographs published in different dailies and also with the emotional outburst of Dhaka Metropolitan Police Commissioner Shahidul Huq in a recent meeting(20-08-09) held under the chairmanship of Communications Minister Syed Abul Hossain telecast on TV. The full video of Shahidul Huq's speech was though not telecast on TV but the thrust of his contention was clear enough to the audience.

The parliamentary standing committee on the education ministry rejected the judicial probe report on the campus violence that took place on Aug 20, 2007 on Dhaka University campus by terming the report "inadequate and irrelevant". I also believe the three-day violence was state sponsored . Well, ministries are accountable to PSCs, but may I ask how a judicial probe report is rejected by a PSC without reviewing it?

The Arabic word Ramadan is derived from 'Ramad' which means - to burn or to destroy something by fire. The holy month of fasting is called Ramadan, as during this revered month the Muslims as a whole blaze all sorts of offensive acts including jealousy, evil propensity, bluffing, hostility and so on.

With the changing face of economy and education, there is a growing need for stronger industry-academia interface. There is a perceivable difference between classroom teaching and industry requirements. In Bangladesh, industry requirements move at a fairly fast pace. However, the pace of change in academics is relatively slower. While the syllabi get updated over periods spanning over five to 10 years, the industry evolves in a matter of few months, so does its resource requirements. Hence, faculty development and teaching modernisation have to be accelerated so that a young population can make the most of the industry opportunities. Some of the areas in which the gap exists include lack of quality faculty, lack of high quality ICT and connectivity infrastructure. The curriculum needs to be overhauled. There is a need to introduce application-oriented learning with meaningful exercises so that academic learning becomes relevant when students join industry. The focus on research areas should be on a par or ahead of the global innovation pace. Moreover, higher education in Bangladesh does not focus on soft skills (verbal or written communication, working on interpersonal skills and team collaboration), which should be a priority. Higher education reform should be given utmost importance in terms of policy as well as implementation at the university level. Public-private partnerships in higher education can play the role of a catalyst. Specific opportunities abound in areas of faculty development, skill development and curriculum changes where industry partners can provide knowledge, expertise and support to address gaps.

Mohakhali is the largest inter-district bus terminal in Dhaka city. Thousands of people from various districts such as Tangail, Mymensingh, Sherpur, Jamalpur, Netrokona, Sirajganj, Bogra etc use this bus terminal to enter/leave Dhaka city.

Fresh fighting erupted early Saturday in northeastern Myanmar after days of clashes between government troops and ethnic rebels drove tens of thousands of people into China, and a bomb tossed across the border killed at least one and injured dozens.

The Nepalese government should investigate the alleged human rights violations by its army during the decade-long Maoist insurgency in the country to make sure that the perpetrators are held accountable, a top UN official has said.

The United Arab Emirates has seized a ship carrying North Korean weapons to Iran, marking the first time a nation has acted on UN sanctions to stop the communist state's proliferation, a diplomat said Friday.

Iran is stonewalling the UN nuclear watchdog on "possible military dimensions" to its suspect nuclear programme, officials said Friday, urging the regime to clarify the mysterious role of a foreign explosives expert and shed light on other issues.

Arts & Entertainment

Two Bangladeshi documentaries "Rudhho Koishor" (Barren Dreams) and "Joler Shilpomanjuri" (Waterworks) have been selected for the 4th International Film Festival on Water '09. Titled "Voices from the Water," the festival will be held in Bangalore, India from September 4 to 7.

This was no run-of-the-mill art exhibition. What made the event stand apart was that the 19 artists who displayed their 51 artworks were disabled, largely with hearing and speech impairment. From paintings of Ganesh, the Hindu elephant God, to scenes from rural Bengal, to works capturing Buddha and the zodiac signs, the artist's paintings revealed that disability need not spell an end to life -- instead it can spawn imagination and creativity. The exhibition, aptly titled 'Beyond Limits,' was organised by the Delhi-based NGO Family Of Disabled (FOD). The aim was to provide a platform for the talented artists so that their work could catch public notice despite their disability.

On the 33rd death anniversary of the National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam, Nazrul Shena School, an institution run by Nazrul Shena central unit, arranged a daylong prgoramme at its auditorium in the district town on August 27.

OP-ED

THROUGH monetary policy the central bank of a country controls supply, availability and cost of money so as to achieve optimum growth and economic stability. Monetary policy is flexible i.e. immediate changes can be made in response to shocks, as opposed to fiscal policy, which takes longer to manage and implement.

NOWADAYS, technology affects practically all activities in our life. Digital technology has covered the operation of all levels of education from kindergarten to doctoral studies. The new technology has even started challenging higher educational institutions worldwide to redefine their student constituencies and teaching practices. Bangladesh has just started a journey on a new vehicle equipped with digital technology and run by local national experts and technologists.

LEPROSY is not as big a problem in Bangladesh as many diseases like tuberculosis, malaria, typhoid, etc. are. But this disease is not merely a health hazard but also a social problem. Because of the stigma, which also causes self-stigma, the life of the affected person gets devastated. Nine NGOs have been working towards the eradication of this disease under the banner of National Leprosy Elimination Program under the Directorate General of Health Services.